“...the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
– 1 Timothy 3:15

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15. LOVING-THE-ENEMY-ETHIC

The quicksand of Christianity is the command to love one’s enemies. Jesus in some very direct and forthright language asks of his disciples:
     Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray
     for those who mistreat you...
     If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who
     love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?
     Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what
     credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’. - Luke 6:27-28, 32-34

I describe this command of Jesus as quicksand because very few Christians are able to practise the command. When so confronted with an ‘enemy’, the Christian almost invariably will choose to ignore the command and do the opposite, that is, hate the enemy. He will find all ways and excuses to minimize the command, and at the same time, invent all ‘lawful’ justification to hate, to despise, and to mistreat the enemy. He will give tit for tat - nay, more tit than tat. No, loving enemies is not just the cup of tea for the human race, even for the species that is called Christian.

The apostle Paul in his letter of community formation to the Romans only understands too well this inadequacy in the human race. Prior to his becoming a Christian he was a Jew in hate of Christians. He would find all means to persecute Christians. He would put them to death or send them to prison or cause them all kinds of problems and troubles. But then he was called by Christ and he could not resist the call. He became a Christian. As a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, he learnt many things and he was transformed by those things. One of them is this command of Jesus: ‘Love your enemies’. Paul, with his superior intellect and learning, could have found many reasons to void and avoid this command. But he could not as he would not. Instead he surrendered himself to the teaching.

Writing to the Romans, he echoes the same command.
     Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
     Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written:
     “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is
     hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.” - Rom. 12:14, 19-20

The ‘enemy’ need not necessarily be the one you are in mortal combat with. He need not be on the other side of the fence. He can very well be on your side, in the same space (spiritual, physical, or otherwise) as you are. He may have done you a wrong, betrayed your trust, or, acted in outright malice against you. He may not have believed the same things as you do; not shared the same religious or political viewpoints. He may be loathsome, a rascal, a weasel, and a downright rotten fellow. Or, he may just be your competitor, in love, in work, in personal prestige. You just want him out of your sight. You wish he would trip and fall to his death; or, come to misfortune and grief. You just want to curse him out of this world and into eternal misery.

‘Bless and do not curse,’ says Paul. ‘Pray for those who mistreat you,’ says Jesus. ‘Love your enemies,’ commands the Lord. We need to meditate on these express words from the Master and the disciple. We need to take them very seriously. We need to undergo a change in our worldview towards the ones who are ‘enemies’. The Christian that is in us must produce every ounce of its spiritual strength to step out and be counted. We must not remain in our unconverted former self, doing things the old way and never wanting to give an inch to Christ to influence us to change. We must not find and give excuses for wanting to hate our ‘enemies’. To love someone is a human gift. To love the ‘enemy’ is to take this gift a step further into the divine realm; for it is while we were enemies of God that God loved us and reconciled us to him through his Son, Jesus Christ (5:8-11).

In this respect, not repaying evil for evil (12:17) is a first step towards loving the ‘enemy’. We must stifle the baser instinct for recrimination, for revenge, for vindictiveness. The talonic evil for evil is simply not a Christian virtue. The Christian virtue is to repay evil with good (12:21): unkindness with compassion; violence with peace; hatred with love. The call of the Christian is to be different from the rest of the world. The call is to transform, not conform.

A transformed life is a life that seeks to ‘live in harmony with one another’ (v. 16); and ‘at peace with everyone’ (v. 18). This is only possible if the Spirit of Christ lives in us. The gentle spirit that is Christ’s will suffuse our person so much so that every pride and conceit will be driven away and our whole person will be filled with humility which is congenial to loving our ‘enemies’. For where pride is, hatred is only a step behind; but when pride gives way to humility, hatred crosses the line and becomes love. The quicksand vanishes. In its place, there is the confidence to love - yes, even the ‘enemy’.

Archive
The Romans Series
1. Being the Community of God’s People
2. Ethno-Religious Tensions
3. The Power and the Wrath of God
4. Justification by Faith
5. Justification Brings Blessings
6. While We Were Still Sinners
7. Died to Sin
8. Slaves to Righteousness
9. The Difference of the Spirit
10. The Israel Problem
11. The Gentile Problem
12. Community Living
13. Community Unity
14. Community Ethics
15. Loving the Enemy Ethic
16. Extra-Community Ethics
17. The Weak and the Strong
18. Community Formation
19. Paul, the Minister
20. Gems in Greetings

Articles on The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism and
the Gospel of Judas
1. The Da Vinci Code: A Christian Response
2. The Nag Hammadi Documents and Gnosticism
3. The Gospel of Judas
4. The Gospel of Judas - A Retake
5. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 1)
6. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 2)
7. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 3)
8. Canonicity and the Gospel of Judas

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